On her feelings during the unveiling of the national championship banner:“Proud. Proud for all the players. Proud that we can represent Baylor on a national scale that very few coaches and players ever get to do. It was just a proud moment.”

On how the team responded to what was considered their first real challenge:“I thought there were three keys to the game and the players listened and did pretty well. We wanted to eliminate their transition baskets. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t turn the basketball over, and we wanted to keep their perimeter players off the offense boards. Now when you look at the final stat sheets, some of that doesn’t look good. But you got to understand when you’re able to play your entire team on national television against the sixth-ranked team in the country, you’re doing something right. We were able to play enough minutes for the main rotation players, but yet give experience to the players that are going to have to help us down the road.”

On the play of the team with Kimetria Hayden having to sit early with foul trouble:“I thought Nae-Na had one of her better moments tonight. She picked up two quick fouls, but she picked them up with effort. She came in in the second half and didn’t try to force things the way she did the other night. She played within the realm of what was going on out there. She was out there with freshmen when I took Odyssey (Sims) off the floor, and she played the point some when she had another freshman on one side. I thought her leadership and her presence on the floor was so valuable.”

On the tall lineup of Pope, Griner, and herself:“I actually love it, because it allows me to work on my passing, and work on my perimeter defense, things that need to be worked on. I’m glad Coach Mulkey gave me the opportunity to do it, so I just got to continue to improve on those.”

On her fast, active start:“The season is here, so I have to play every game like it’s my last, and play hard and with a lot of energy.”

On the feeling of seeing the 2012 National Championship banner:“It was a great one, and I’m ready to get number two."

On missing her first few shots, but finishing 11-for-14:“I was just figuring it out, and getting into my groove. The guards did a great job of getting me the ball, and helping me get into my groove."

On the trip to Hawaii:“It’s always good to just play. And on the other side, it’s Hawaii and I’m trying to surf - don’t tell coach. And I’m looking forward to Pearl Harbor. I’m just looking forward to all of it.”

KENTUCKY QUOTES

Head Coach Matthew Mitchell

Opening Statement:“I want to thank everybody at State Farm and the Basketball Hall of Fame for putting on a great event, and everybody that was a part of it. We’re honored to be here tonight and want to compliment Baylor on an outstanding game. They have an outstanding team, an outstanding program, and we certainly have a lot to learn. We’ll have a lot of opportunities to learn from this game.”

On not pressing as much as the team normally does:“Our full-court press starts with playing really good half-court man-to-man, and as the season wears on that builds up. So we don’t usually press in a game of this level at this time of year. So our full-court press is not at full strength right now. Even when we did try to press, I thought Baylor was fantastic.”

On the game plan coming into the game:“Our offensive game plan was to just try to get as much movement as we could, and try to move the ball, cut really crisp and set some good screens. We never wanted to get into a situation where we were challenging Griner one-on-one, chest-to-chest. We wanted to try to make some power moves to the basket. Obviously, our offensive game plan wasn’t very good, so we will certainly try to get better from that.”

On Baylor’s defense:“I hate to ever take away from the opponent’s excellence. I don’t know how you could fault Baylor for anything they did tonight. I thought they really played excellent defense and Griner is such an imposing figure around the basket that their defense is designed to force you into jump shots. We didn’t make those, but that’s because we were taking shots that Baylor wanted us to take.”

Sophomore Guard Bria Goss

On the impression of Griner on the court:“She is an All-American player. I’ve been watching her since freshman year and I think she’s improved since then. I am so blessed to play against her and I look forward to playing against her again.”

Junior Center Samarie Walker

On what it’s like to go up against Griner:“Honestly it’s fun and it just shows what kind of team we are when we can play against someone with their caliber. It’s different because there’s not many 6’8 women in life. It’s a game-changer.”